


crossing the line

by newrules



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Get Together, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-22 07:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11375244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newrules/pseuds/newrules
Summary: kent resolved to get over his longstanding crush on his straight teammate long ago. lucky for him, he was never successful.





	crossing the line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [malreves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/malreves/gifts).



Jeff Troy walking slowly but confidently across the room – Kent just couldn’t get the image out of his head. Their eyes had locked as the two of them, along with two members of the Aces’ front office, had crossed to the “Yes” side for a question Kent had never imagined answering so publicly in front of his team.

 

The Aces’ staff had implemented a new sensitivity training this year and with it came the activity called Crossing the Line, which asked the Aces’ players and staff to share, silently, aspects of their identities and experiences by crossing the room to indicate their agreement with a statement read out loud by the sensitivity trainer. A lengthy list of initially mundane statements like “I prefer chocolate to vanilla” or “I am right-handed” had since given way to more serious statements, and, eventually, to the one currently echoing in Kent’s head.

 

“I am gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or queer.”

 

Kent had had a plan for coming out to the Aces. He’d already told his GM, but he was going to wait at least another season and give himself more time to feel out the attitudes of his teammates. Until, at least, he saw in his peripheral vision the blur of Jeff’s foot jolting forward to cross the room when the sensitivity trainer read the word “bisexual.” Suddenly Kent was imbued with a jolt of confidence and he felt himself lurch forward. A second later he was staring back at the rest of his team from the opposite wall. The rules of the activity emphasized respecting others by staying silent and refraining from giggling, snickering, etc., and the other Aces followed the rule well enough that Kent couldn’t quite figure out how they were reacting, but that was one of the least pressing worries currently rushing through his head.

 

Kent was aware that the two front office staff members who were standing with him on the “Yes” side were looking in his direction, but his focus was on Jeff. Looking in Kent’s direction, Jeff was practically beaming. Confident, happy. In fact, for just a second Kent let himself wonder if his crush of three years now was looking a little… infatuated? Kent dismissed the thought, overly cautious about getting his hopes up, as the sensitivity trainer read the next statement (“I am transgender”) and he and Jeff crossed back to the “No” side (although one of their Assistant GMs crossed to the “Yes” side, which made Kent smile).

 

Jeff’s arrival to the Aces as their first-round draft pick in Kent’s second year was uneventful in Kent’s eyes – sure, he was hot, but so were a lot of Kent’s teammates. That was just the norm for professional athletics. But Jeff, Kent later discovered, was just such an easygoing guy with a great sense of humor, and he was also really nice, and he loved all the same mundane things Kent loved like watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune over dinner and racing to call out the answers and… whoops. Four months into knowing Jeff and Kent had a full-blown, head-over-heels crush.

 

Kent, luckily, had been used to unrequited crushes on (supposedly) straight guys for a while now. He’d had a hot French Canadian teammate in juniors named Evan, who, before Kent’s awkward debacle with Jack, he’d thought he’d never get over. It was ridiculous, looking back, and it was the catalyst for a lot of stupid behaviors – partying and drinking it away, and eventually screwing it away – which had only led to him catching feelings for another hot French Canadian, this time one who left him with a lot more emotional baggage. After his mess of a year in juniors, Kent was wary of crushes in general.

 

But Jeff, he thought, couldn’t possibly be so bad. The two of them were fast friends, always together, and even though it hurt Kent a little bit to spend so much time with Jeff and not be able to do more, trying to force himself to spend time away from Jeff only left him feeling worse. Jeff must have started to pick up on it because Kent thought he seemed upset too. So, Kent started spending more time with Jeff, and consequently falling more and more for him, seeing as Jeff was just kind of stupidly perfect. He encouraged Kent to be more spontaneous and leave the house more without encouraging his self-destructive tendencies, was always willing to go out with him (or more often than not, just spend a night in), and even kept Kent from drinking too much when they went to clubs. Kent had been struggling a lot to keep his feelings to himself.

 

One day, though, Jeff had done something that changed how Kent saw him. They’d been watching Jeopardy on TV when an ad came on for Las Vegas Pride, and Jeff immediately turned the TV off, looking uncomfortable. He excused himself to go to the bathroom and that had been the end. As much as he liked Jeff, Kent had figured in that moment that he must be straight, and had resolved to stop fixating so much on his crush. The next year, nothing much changed between them, and Kent’s crush never really went away, but Kent was at least somewhat happier.

 

Fast forward to the present, and. Well.

 

Kent’s mental presence jolted back into the activity as the trainer read the final statement – “I need a hug.” Now all the participants, players and staff alike, were on the “Yes” side, the heavy and personal topics of the activity having worn them down emotionally, and the trainer stepped away from their podium to give a hug to one of the staffers standing near them. This prompted the rest of the Aces to start trading hugs and Kent quickly found himself embraced by a teary Jeff.

 

“Can we talk later?” Jeff whispered into his ear.

 

And then Kent was sitting in a conference room high up in the labyrinthine corridors of T-Mobile Arena, where they were sure no one would be by to bother them.

 

Jeff launched into his sentence so quickly that he must have been rehearsing it in his head: “I uh, saw the way you looked at me when we both answered the gay question and, like, I care about you a lot and it’s important to me that we stay friends no matter what but I’ve kinda had a crush on you for the longest time and now that I know for sure that we’re both not straight I just thought maybe you’d feel the same way about me but if you don’t then I get it and that’s fine and I’ll be fine but I just wanted to go ahead and ask straight away because I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if you really did like me back and I didn’t ask because I was too scared so, um, yeah.”

 

“You beautiful asshole, stop psyching yourself out and just kiss the dude who’s also had a crush on you for years already.”

 

The kiss was more than worth the three years’ wait.

**Author's Note:**

> the crossing the line activity is one i've done many times and one that i actually facilitate at my summer job, which is what inspired this. some versions, including the one the aces do here, get into some pretty heavy stuff, but it's a really valuable experience. 
> 
> i didn't want to interrupt the flow of the piece to address this in the fic, but the real reason swoops turned off the tv when the pride ad came on was because he was just then beginning to question whether he might be bisexual and it was stressing him out (rip).
> 
> as always feel free to leave a comment here or hit me up on tumblr at @[kentparson](http://kentparson.tumblr.com).


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